the first hike

Last Sunday we took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and made our way south to Tucquan Glen, where we enjoyed a wonderful hike. We'd taken lots of walks with Sebastian since he was born, but this was his first real hike on a trail. He is so incredibly in awe of nature and so content when he's outside... it's actually our best solution to fussiness. If he's ever fussy and we can't easily calm him, we step outside, and he immediately calms down. Immediately.

Needless to say, Seb was enchanted with the forest. Happy, happy baby! And Grandma Martin was able to join us for the afternoon. It was so refreshing to be outside in nature, listening to the sounds of leaves crunch beneath our feet and water rushing down the stream and over the rocks. Ahhh...!

The girls are back in town!

It's been a great, L-O-N-G weekend! Not only did we have an extra day off, but also we had a very special visit from Cristy and Amber. Cristy's in the States on a brief break from her work in Malawi, and Amber came from NYC, having just gotten back from a summer in Kenya. Plus, I took today off, I'm on call tomorrow night (so post-call on Thursday), and we're heading camping on Friday! I didn't take any time off all summer, so I was ready for a little break! And a good break it has been, indeed!

We had a fab get-together on Sunday night with lots of friends and a feast-ful of food.

One of the best moments was having a bunch of us girls together (5) on a bed, which crashed to the ground when I shifted my weight to the same side that everyone else was already sitting on - oops! Fortunately no toes were smashed!
Stephanie, Heidi, Cristy, Amber, Acacia (dog-type) and I went on a great hike on the horseshoe trail on Monday morning. Only three of us were hacking! Somehow we decided that Amber had TB, Heidi had Pertussis (whooping cough), and I had some other strange communicable disease, maybe Hanta virus or something... that's what happens when you get a bunch of doctors together for some fun!

On the way home from hiking we stopped to get some fresh produce for dinner on Monday night - I was doing my best to pick out the best sweet corn in the bunch!

In the afternoon, we went to the Long's Park summer arts and crafts festival, where Amber bought a beautiful, wool rug, then was trying her skills as a Kenyan woman, carrying her load on her head!

Having my girlfriends around has been wonderful - I love having friends that you can go without seeing for months on end (sometimes even if they live in the same town - dreadful - sigh), and you can pick up right where you left off the last time you saw them! What a JOY!